Green’s Dictionary of Slang

face v.

[15C SE face, ‘to show a bold face, look big; to brag, boast, swagger’ (OED)]

1. (Irish) of a man, to pay court to a woman.

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[Ire]L. Mackay Mourne Folk 114: ‘D’ye think, Thomas, wud Miss O’Hara ‘face?’’ said John [...] ‘Ye know as well as me she’s long past her market.’.
[Ire]W.F Marshall ‘Me an’ Me Da’ in Livin’ in Drumlister 33: Yo Bridget I went back, / An’ faced her for it that night week.

2. (US campus, also face down) to outperform, to correct, to show up, to humiliate, to insult.

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[US]W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 79: He’d face down Old Horny himself.
[US]B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 121: If you gon fuck black you gon face black.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Spring 3: face – to take advantage of; to embarrass.
[UK]Indep. Rev. 9 Aug. 4: Does Stothard have the bottle to face him down?
[UK]N. Barlay Hooky Gear 265: Hes sittin there vex as fuck, facin me down.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

face and brace (v.) (also face it and brace it)

to bluster, to defy, to bully verbally.

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[UK]Skelton Agaynst The Scottes 31: Such boste make To prate and crake, To face and brace All voyde of grace.
H. Latimer Sermon before Edward VI (Arb.) 152: Men [...] woulde face it and brace it and make a shewe of vpryght dealynge .
[UK]Becon Fortress of Faithful (1844) 599: They gripe, they nip, they face, they brase, they semble, they dissemble [...] to maintain and set forth their unnoble nobility .
[UK]R. Harrison A little treatise vppon the firste verse of the 122. Psalm n.p.: [T]hough they face and brace neuer so much, how should they thinke it possible?
[UK]J. More Three godly and fruitfull sermons 93: [I]f any durst be so bold as to make a facing and bracing vnto the pore people [...] Let vs say and face, and brace it out neuer so much.